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JUNIOR PRESS BOOKS 

albert|whitman 

ca 

CHICAGO 

1935 








Copyright, 1935, by 
ALBERT WHITMAN & COMPANY 



Printed in the U. S. A. 

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CONTENTS 


Page 


The Shepherd’s Crook. 11 

Arundel Castle. 17 

Lewes Castle . 27 

Bodiam Castle. 40 

Windsor Castle . 52 

Warwick Castle . 65 

Kenilworth Castle . 77 

Nottingham Castle. 86 

York Castle.100 

Carnarvon Castle.Ill 

Tintagel Castle .,.120 


































LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 


Page 

He carried it up to the castle gate.Frontispiece 

She wanted to ask Peter all about going to Arundel.... 13 
They found the man who owned the Pycombe crook... 21 

It was a fine tower. 29 

Topsy danced high above the town. 35 

He was tapping the earth and the stones with an iron rod. 43 

The Fox made a plunge for his hand. 50 

The walls were hung with pictures. 55 

The guide pointed to the Garter Tower. 58 

Then she had slipped it on Peter’s head. 59 

Guests came to enjoy it. 63 

Next they came to the castle door. 67 

“That’s why you see the tower standing today”. 69 

But the armor tempted him even more. 72 

It flew up to the edge of the fountain. .. 75 

“What may this mean?'* she demanded 


79 















LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS (Continued) 


Page 


“She saw an island floating on the lake”.83 

Above the trees they could see a castle. 87 

Peter saw that the room had walls of rock. 97 

Their gables leaned toward each other.101 

The soldiers stood far above Peter's head.105 

Just then the wind caught Peter's hat.108 

The castle’s history had been stormy.113 

Her ball of yam rolled into the street.119 

“I can see his face in the rock," Doris said.122 

He fastened strings to her arms and legs.127 















































HE CARRIED IT UP TO THE CASTLE GATE 


» 

























































































































































































The Shepherd’s Crook 

Doris Lee bent over the doll carriage to tuck 
the cover more closely about Topsy. There 
were six English dolls in the carriage, and 
Topsy was the only black one. The black 
doll was new. She had jolly eyes. They were 
glass beads which rolled back and forth when 
she danced. 

Topsy was a wind-up doll. Inside her was 
a spring, and when Doris turned it with et 


— n — 







OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


key, Topsy danced. Doris’s brother Peter 
came running so fast around the bend in the 
High Street that he just missed bumping into 
the carriage. 

“Peter,” Doris warned, “mind your step.” 

“We’re going to Arundel for the Pycombe 
crook,” he answered, gasping for breath, 
“and then we can see the castle.” He bound¬ 
ed through the gate which led to the house. 

Doris turned the carriage quickly toward 
the gate. She wanted to ask Peter all about 
going to Arundel. She had heard of the cas¬ 
tle often, but she had never seen it. As she 
started through the gate, she looked up and 
saw her father coming across the meadow 
near which the house stood. Her father was 
certain to know even more about going to 
Arundel than Peter knew. 

The wheels of the doll carriage turned into 
the meadow. Topsy’s head flopped into the 
lap of one of the white dolls. Doris propped 
Topsy straight again, and hurried on toward 
her father. 

“Peter says we’re going to Arundel,” she 
cried. “Are we really and truly?” 

— 12 — 





SHE WANTED TO ASK PETER ALL ABOUT GOING TO ARUNDEL 
























































OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


“Yes. 1 had a letter from a man who lives 
there. He has a Pycombe crook, and will loan 
it to Peter to carry in the play at the Guild 
House. I didn’t know you wanted so much to 
see the castle.” 

“1 have wanted to for ever so long, Doris 
answered. “It’s queer to think that I had to 
wait for a Pycombe crook to take me there. 

A Pycombe crook was a shepherd s crook 
with a beautiful curled iron top. Long ago 
a certain man in the village of Pycombe, 
England, made these crooks for the shep¬ 
herds to carry when they herded their sheep. 
Not many shepherds in these days carry 
crooks, for dogs are trained to do the herding. 

A man who owns a Pycombe crook treas¬ 
ures it, as there are only a few left in Eng¬ 
land. Peter was to play the part of a shep¬ 
herd in the Guild House play, and he wanted 
a Pycombe crook to carry. But seeing the 
castles was even better than finding the crook. 

Doris’s father looked at her as she wheeled 
the carriage beside him toward the gate. 
“Fancy your wanting so long to see the cas¬ 
tle.” As soon as they entered the house, he 

— 14 — 



THE SHEPHERD’S CROOK 


said to her mother, “Has Peter told you?” 

“It was too good to keep,” Peter answered, 
“I couldn’t keep the castle a secret.” 

“It’s odd when you come to think of it,” 
Peter’s mother said to his father, “that all this 
time we haven’t taken the children to Arun¬ 
del. I’m afraid we’ve been rather stupid not 
to have gone. But now that we have the car 
we can go to see castles.” 

“I was thinking the same thing,” the chil¬ 
dren’s father answered. “Just because Arun¬ 
del is near us we haven’t taken the trouble to 
go. That’s often the way with treasures near 
at hand. It’s the far away ones we go to see. 
We won’t miss Arundel any longer.” 

His eyes were bright with a new plan. “If 
Doris and Peter like Arundel, it’s time we 
were showing them other castles. We can t 
go far in the English country without seeing 
them. I’m due for a holiday soon. How 
would you children like to go on a castle 
hunt? It’s much better than trying to find 
the end of the rainbow, for we’re certain to 
find the castles. They can’t jump, from 
meadow to meadow. 


— 15 — 



OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


“I never heard of jumping castles,” Doris 
answered. “They might tumble in when 
they're very old, but they have to tumble just 
where they stand.” 

“Right you are,” her father answered, ‘Til 
bring the car, and we’ll go to see if the stones 
of Arundel have tumbled.” 



— 16 






Arundel Castle 

Where the Owls Were Named for Knights 

“See how high it stands,” Peter cried, as 
he looked out from the car. 

He and Doris had been riding through a 
green valley in Sussex, England. Over toward 
the ocean, which was only a few miles away, 
they could see the downs which were great 
grass-grown hills. These downs are made up 


— 17 — 










OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


of chalk which will not hold water. So there 
are no wells on the downs. Because there is 
no water and no soil for gardens, no homes 
have been built there. 

Sheep graze on the downs. When the sheep 
are thirsty, the shepherd takes them to a dew 
pond. It is a hollow dug in the chalk. The 
bottom of the hollow has been filled with 
earth hard enough to hold the dew until the 
sheep can lap it up and quench their thirst. 
But there is not enough dew for a town or 
even for a farm. That is why the downs are 
not covered with houses. They are high and 
green and lovely. Arundel Castle is in a 
valley near the downs. 

The children had come through a sheltered 
woodland to Arundel. Now they crossed a 
bridge over the river Arun. It was from this 
bridge that they first saw the castle standing 
high on its wooded hill. There were round 
towers and square towers, each topped with 
stones which looked as if some giant had 
bitten pieces from them and left the marks 
of his teeth on the top of every tower. There 
were many windows. It was not a castle 



ARUNDEL CASTLE 


that had tumbled, for the owners still lived 
in it and made it their home. Their children 
played in it. 

“Arundel, Arundel,” Doris was singing. 
The word seemed to be made for singing. 

“What does it mean?” Peter asked. 

“Now you’ve asked me something much 
wiser men than I have not been able to an¬ 
swer,” his father said. “For years they have 
been trying to solve the riddle of Arundel. It 
may have been named for a horse, it may 
have been named for a swallow, or it may 
have been named for a river. Nobody really 
knows the right answer.” 

“Tell us the different answers,” Peter said, 
"and then we will each choose the one we 
like best.” 

“You may have three guesses. Some say 
that it was named for Bevis’s horse Arundel. 
Bevis was a giant who guarded the castle. 
His feats were like magic. He was said to 
have waded the English channel to visit an 
island. Now the biggest ships on the ocean 
sail the channel, so you know it must be 
very deep. You’ll find one of the towers in 


— 19 — 



OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


the castle named for Bevis. He rode a big 
horse which he called Arundel. 

“That’s my guess," Peter said, without 
listening to any of the others. 

“But I’d like the swallow answer,” Doris 
said. 

“So you might. Arundel may come from 
the French word for swallow. It does not 
look the same, but the two words sound much 
the same when spoken. It might be the an¬ 
swer.” 

“And the third guess?” the children’s 
mother asked. 

“We’re crossing the river Arun. It may 
be that the castle which looks down on it was 
named for the river. You may each solve the 
riddle your own way.” 

He turned the car through the winding 
streets of the little town which sits at the 
foot of the castle. Its high stone wall runs 
through the edge of the town and around the 
great park which belongs to the castle. Little 
shops face the castle wall. In one of these 
shops they found the man who owned the 
Pycombe crook and he loaned it to Peter. 


— 20 — 






they found the man who owned the pycombe crook 
































































































OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


Peter thanked him and promised to take good 
care of it. And so he carried it up to the castle 
gate. 

He found the gate where the wall turns to 
climb a hill. A keeper opened the gate. He 
was an old man who loved the castle. He had 
been happy to live within its walls all of his 
life. He had never before taken any one with 
a Pycombe crook through the castle and he 
did not know what to make of it. 

“I can’t take umbrellas through,” he said, 
as if umbrellas were people who had come to 
poke holes in the castle. 

“This isn’t an umbrella,” Peter answered. 

“But you can poke with it,” the keeper said, 
“so we’ll have to put it in the keep, if you 
want to see the castle.” 

Peter certainly wanted to see the castle, 
but since the crook was not his, he must be 
sure that it was safe. “It’s a Pycombe crook, 
and it needs to be guarded,” he said to the 
keeper. 

“Come with me,” the keeper answered, “I’ll 
ask Sir Gregory to guard your treasure.” 

The children followed the keeper up a long 
— 22 — 




ARUNDEL CASTLE 


flight of steps to the 
tower. In the tower he 
led the way to a room 
with high windows. 

There was no one in 
the room, and Peter 
saw only a row of 
stuffed owls sitting on 
a shelf. “Where’s Sir 
Gregory?” he asked. 

“There he is,” the 
keeper answered, 
pointing to an owl. 

“He was a pet in the 
castle. The owls were 
all called Sir as if they 
were knights. In times past the keeper of the 
tower would say to the earl of the castle, 
‘Your Grace, Sir Gregory seems a bit feverish 
today.’ And something had to be done for 
Sir Gregory’s fever. These knights are trusty. 
They never leave the tower. They will guard 
your treasure.” 

And so Peter left the crook leaning against 
Sir Gregory’s wing. The keeper led the way 



— 23 — 






OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


out of the tower into a long hall. He threw 
out his chest and looked as proud as a king. 
He puffed his cheeks and his voice rang with 
the story of the castle: 

" ‘Since William rose and Harold fell. 

There have been earls of Arundel.* 

“An earl bears a high title. A long line of 
earls had lived in the castle, and they had 
known the friendship of kings and queens. 
They had needed to fight for their castle. It 
had withstood siege after siege. Cannon had 
been fired from the tower of its church. Bea¬ 
con lights had burned on the tower to guide 
British ships at sea. 

“Among the earls, there was a boy not much 
older than Peter. He had been left in the care 
of a duke who lived in another castle, but the 
young earl felt that Arundel was his rightful 
home. He so loved it that he ran away from 
the duke, and came to live in his own castle. 

“Now the present earl and his family live 
two days a week in only a small part of the 
castle, so that on those days any one who 
wishes may see the rest of it.” 

The keeper continued to praise the earls of 


— 24 




ARUNDEL CASTLE 


Arundel as he led the children from one great 
room to another. Those who lived here had 
served their king well. But so far the keeper 
had not spoken of the giant, Bevis, and Peter 
was eager to hear more of the giant. He was 
waiting only for the keeper to pause a mo¬ 
ment, so that he could ask questions. But the 
keeper opened the doors to more rooms and 
more rooms, and no matter how many doors 
he opened, he never ran out of earls to praise. 

At last he came to a great room in which 
were many suits of armor worn long ago. He 
told Peter and Doris which suit was worn by 
which earl. And then Peter saw the biggest 
sword he had ever looked upon. 

‘‘See how big it is, Doris,” Peter exclaimed. 
“It must have belonged to the giant. It must 
be his sword, Morglay.” 

‘‘I was coming to that,” the keeper said. “It 
takes time to go so far back in history. The 
sword did belong to Bevis. It was his friend 
in danger. He performed brave deeds with it. 

“And so the castle really did have a giant?” 
Peter asked, delighted. 

“I can’t rightly say,” the keeper admitted. 


— 25 — 



OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


“but there’s his sword. And they still tell how 
busy the cooks were roasting the oxen to feed 
him.” 

“You’d be hungry too if you’d waded the 
English Channel,” Peter reminded the keeper. 

“No doubt I would. Bevis was a powerful 
man. That’s why the strong tower is named 
for him. If you walk in the park you will find 
a high mound, and it is said that’s where 
Bevis lies buried. No ordinary man needs a 
mound that high to cover him.” 

“Was the castle named for his horse or for 
the swallows?” Doris asked the keeper. 

Again he answered, “I can’t say. But the 
horse that Bevis rode must have been a fine 
steed, worthy the name of a castle like this. 
These halls welcomed the great of England. 
Queen Elizabeth herself came here for a visit. 
Arundel pleased her Highness. I hope it has 
pleased you.” 

“Very much,” Peter answered, “and if my 
Pycombe crook’s still safe—” 

“Safe as the strong tower itself,” the keeper 
assured him. “You’ll find Sir Gregory still 
perched beside it.” 

— 26 — 




Lewes Castle 

Above the Windmills 

Peter carried the crook in the Guild House 
play. He played his shepherd’s part and as 
his eyes sought the hills for sheep, he was 
already seeing castle towers beyond them. 
Tomorrow his father was to begin his holiday. 

When the day came it was bright and clear. 
It rains a great deal in England, but there are 


— 27 — 







OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


sunny days, and they are as nice as any sunny 
days in the world. Peter s father drove again 
through Arundel, and gave the Pycombe 
crook back to the mein who had loaned it. 

And now he was taking the children to 
Lewes. Lewes is a hilly town. Steep narrow 
streets climb up to the main street of Lewes. 
There are many old houses. Their oak beams 
are dark with age. Near the center of town 
rises the castle. It is a proud castle, for it has 
two keeps. Many castles have only one, like 
Arundel. But Lewes had need of two keeps, 
for battles raged about the castle. It had to 
be strong. 

Doris and Peter climbed a hilly street to 
the castle gate. Doris had brought Topsy to 
show her the castles that they were to see. 
Topsy’s eyes almost rolled out of her head 
as Doris climbed the street. 

Peter’s father rang a bell to let the keeper 
know they had come to see the castle. The 
keeper began at once to tell the castle’s story. 
He said Doris and Peter were about to enter 
the great tower gate. It was a fine tower and 
it had guarded the castle wall. Peter and Doris 


— 28 — 




IT WAS A FINE TOWER 





































































































OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


stepped through its wide door and came into 
the castle yard. 

Inside the castle, the keeper told the chil¬ 
dren about relics now kept within the walls. 
And so the children learned another use for 
castles. Some were still lived in, some were 
ruins, and this one guarded ancient relics of 
days long past. 

The children saw pieces of Roman glass. 
The Romans had been here before there was 
a castle, and some of the things they used had 
been found buried deep in the soil. There was 
a Roman thimble. There were shields and 
old keys so big and heavy that only a strong 
man could turn them. Peter saw a Pycombe 
crook among the relics. 

In late years the castle had been cared for 
and treasured. As the children stood on the 
high wall and looked over the country, they 
could see windmills. They had seen wind¬ 
mills before, but never one with a story like 
that the keeper of Lewes was telling them 
now. 

“Many battles have been fought about the 
castle,” he said, “and the battle of Lewes over 


— 30 — 



LEWES CASTLE 


six hundred years ago ended at a windmill." 
He pointed to a hill top. “The enemy came 
over that hill, hoping to capture the king. His 
son, young Prince Edward, was in the castle. 
The king and his brother were in the town 
below. They and their loyal men rushed to 
meet the enemy outside the town. They 
fought bravely. Prince Edward was scarcely 
more than a lad like you.” 

The keeper looked back at Peter and then 
continued. “The prince charged out of the 
castle and over the hill. He drove the enemy 



— 31 — 







OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


back. But while he was holding the hill, an¬ 
other branch of the enemy army came be¬ 
tween him and his father. The king was cap¬ 
tured. His brother, the prince’s uncle, was 
forced to take flight, and he hid in a windmill, 
hoping to escape capture. A windmill is use¬ 
ful to the farmer, but it is not much use as a 
stronghold. The king’s brother found it so. 
The enemy captured him in the windmill. 
Even the young prince, brave though he was, 
could not save his uncle. 

“There were other brave men at Lewes,” 
the keeper continued. “There was the Earl of 
Warenne, who served William the Conqueror 
so well that the king gave this castle to the 
earl in gratitude for his help. The earl’s serv¬ 
ice had been in fighting battles, and he had 
fought so successfully that many men fell by 
his sword. When he came back to Lewes and 
recalled his part in the wars, he could not 
forget the men he had killed in battle. He was 
sad because he had fought too well. And so 
he made a journey all the way to Rome to 
atone for the deaths he had caused. His wife, 
who was the daughter of William the Con- 


— 32 — 



LEWES CASTLE 


queror, went with the earl to Rome. In those 
days it was not an easy journey. They came 
back to Lewes and built a priory.” 

The keeper pointed to ruined walls near the 
railway station. “There you can see the old 
walls of the priory. In it was a shelter for 
birds. The earl’s heart was still sad over the 
deaths he had caused, and he wanted now to 
save even the tender life of the birds. More 
than three thousand birds were cared for in 
the priory shelter.” 

And now the keeper pointed to a narrow 
street, so steep that it seemed more like a lad¬ 
der than a street. “King George IV was driven 
in his coach down that narrow street.” 

“The paint must have been scraped off his 
coach as he passed,” Peter said. 

“A gilded coach has the respect even of 
houses,” the keeper answered. “From these 
walls you are seeing where history was made. 
In the street just under the wall is where the 
Bonfire Boys build their fires on November 
fifth. That’s where the boys stand to send 
off their rousers. Did you ever hear a rouser?” 

Doris shook her head, but Peter did not 


— 33 — 



OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


admit that he had ever heard a real rouser. 

“They’re rockets, and from the noise they 
make when they explode, you’d think they 
had blown up the castle. It’s a noise like—” 
and the keeper threw up both hands, having 
no words to describe the noise of a rouser. 
“The red roof tops of Lewes could tell many 
a story,” he added. “They’ve seen history 
made.” 

Peter and Doris walked on about the walls, 
looking over the town where so much had 
happened. Now it was peaceful in the after¬ 
noon sun. Doris held Topsy on the wall, and 
her skirts swayed in the breeze. “She wants 
to dance on a castle wall,” Doris said. She 
took out the little key that wound the spring 
in Topsy. Doris turned the key and held 
Topsy so that she would not fall. Topsy 
danced high above the town where history had 
been made. 

When Topsy had finished dancing, Doris 
saw some men playing bowls on a green be¬ 
neath the castle wall. They rolled big smooth 
wooden balls toward a goal. She leaned over 
so that she could see them better. 


— 34 — 






TOPSY DANCED HIGH ABOVE THE TOWN 



















































OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


Then a sad thing happened. Doris pressed 
against the key in Topsy’s back, so that she 
gave it half a turn. The spring jerked. Topsy’s 
feet flew out so fast that she slipped from 
Doris’ hand and fell right over the castle wall. 

Topsy struck the road, but she did not stop 
there. Over and over she rolled, bumping her 
head on the stones. Topsy’s face and body 
were of cloth and only her eyes could break. 
Doris feared that they would never roll so 
gaily again. 

“Her poor eyes!” Doris cried, looking about 
for the stair. She could not remember where 
it was. She ran to the keeper and tugged at 
his sleeve. “Where’s the stair?” she begged. 

The keeper showed her the way, and she 
dashed down the steps with Peter after her. 
They ran through the big tower gate after 
Topsy. The doll had stopped with a bump 
in the street. Doris rescued her just as a big 
bus turned the comer. And then Doris saw 
that one of Topsy’s eyes was broken. The 
other eye was rolling as if it was all right. 

“She looks as if she’d fought in the battle 
of Lewes,” Doris bewailed. 


— 36 — 




LEWES CASTLE 


“Or had been hit by one of the Bonfire Boys’ 
rousers,” Peter added. 

“She’s lost the key that makes her dance,” 
Doris cried, more anxious than before. Doris 
shook Topsy’s legs to see if they would dance. 
But they hung limply from the waist. “She 
can’t dance, Peter, without the key. We must 
find the key.” 

And so they searched all along the street 
and at the bottom of the castle walls. They 
met their father and mother who had fol¬ 
lowed them from the castle. They all searched, 
but they could not find the key. 

“What will we do?” Doris asked with a face 
as sad as Topsy’s. 

“We’ll have to take her to a doll hospital,” 
Doris’s mother said. 

And so they went up and down the steep 
Lewes street looking for a doll hospital. They 
could not find one, so Peter asked a police¬ 
man. The policeman held up his white gloved 
hand. All the cars stopped while he answered 
Peter’s question. It was an odd one to ask a 
policeman, but he did not even look surprised, 
for he had been asked many odd questions. 


— 37 — 



OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


“One minute down Keere Street,” he said, 
“on the left. Mrs. Appleby mends dolls.” 

It was the same street down which the king 
had come in his coach. As Peter and Doris 
walked down it together they could almost 
touch the houses on either side. They found 
Mrs. Appleby’s house. 

She clucked like a hen when she saw Topsy, 
and then she pulled out a drawer from an old 
chest. In the drawer were boxes filled with 
parts of dolls. There were eyes in one box 
and arms in another and legs in a third. 
Topsy’s lost eye was brown. Most of those 
Mrs. Appleby had were blue. 

At last Doris found a brown one. It was 
bigger than Topsy’s other eye. Mrs. Appleby 
could squeeze it into Topsy’s head, but it fitted 
so tight that it would not roll about like the 
other eye. The family held a council as to 
whether it would be better to have an eye that 
did not match, or only one eye. Mrs. Appleby 
urged the brown eye. Doris agreed, so Mrs. 
Appleby fastened it in Topsy’s head. 

“There you are, my pet,” she said, handing 
the doll back to Doris. 


— 38 — 




LEWES CASTLE 


“And now I need a key to make her dance.” 

“Mercy on us!” cried Mrs. Appleby, “I’ve 
never mended a dancing doll. Legs and arms 
I have, but no keys. You’ll have to have one 
made. You will, for a fact.” 

But to have a key made would take some 
time. “I’m afraid we can’t stop long enough,” 
Doris’s father said, “Topsy will have to wait 
until we go home to have a key made.” 

After all, Mrs. Appleby had done the best 
she could, and Doris 
could expect no 
more. She left Keere 
Street, hugging the 
doll to her. 


— 39 — 






Bodiam Castle 

With Water in Its Moat 

Peter and Doris came with their parents to 
Bodiam Castle. There were square towers all 
across the front, and great round towers at 
each end of the square ones. But better even 
than the towers was the moat which ran all 
about the outside of the castle. 

When castles were built long ago they were 
built for safety. Not only must they be strong, 
but they must look strong and not tempt an 
enemy to attack them. So many castles had 


— 40 

























BODIAM CASTLE 


a deep ditch dug all about them, and the ditch 
was filled with water so that no enemy could 
cross easily. The owner of the castle crossed 
the ditch or moat on a bridge, which he drew 
up against the door after him. 

Now that castles are in less danger of attack, 
the water is drained out of the moats of most 
of them. Even if the moat remains, it may be 
grass grown and not filled with water. But 
Bodiam has never drained its moat. Swans 
float among the water lilies on its peaceful 
surface. 

It would seem as if Time had played a joke 
of its own on the castle. Through the six 
hundred years that Bodiam has stood within 
its moat, it has known peace and quiet. His¬ 
tory tells of no siege that befell it. This may 
be because for so long it expected siege and 
was ready. It is one of the few English cas¬ 
tles which saw no battle, although battles were 
waged not far distant. Time must have saved 
the castle for beauty’s sake. 

A dry path now leads across the moat. 
Peter ran across this path toward the castle 
door. But just before he came to the door, he 


— 41 — 




OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


stopped to look at the guard house. It was 
built of stone like a box with room for only 
one guard to stand inside. There was no guard 
in the stone box. There was none in the castle. 
Its walls were open to the weather, and where 
its floor had been, grass now made a carpet. 
Against the walls the stone ruins of a kitchen 
and bedrooms could be seen, but the center 
court was empty. The towers were empty too 
as they looked out over the moat. 

At least Peter thought that they were 
empty, for at first he saw no one. He started 
back to the guard house, for he wanted to 
see how he would fit inside it. Then he 
heard a sound which came from one of the 
round towers. He and Doris both ran to the 
tower. And there in the shadow of the high 
wall, they saw a boy crawling about on all 
fours. He was tapping the earth and the 
stones with an iron rod. When he heard foot¬ 
steps he jumped to his feet and faced the 
children. But he said nothing. 

"Are you hunting for buried treasure?” 
Peter asked, since he could think of no other 
reason for tapping the stones. 


— 42 — 






HE WAS TAPPING THE EARTH AND THE STONES WITH AN IRON ROD 

























































OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


“How did you guess?” the boy asked in 
turn. “Do you know where the Foxes hid it? 
Did the Foxes send you?” 

“I don’t know any Foxes,” Peter answered. 

“We couldn’t really know,” Doris said, 
holding tight to Topsy, for the tower now 
seemed full of strange mystery. “We’ve never 
been here before, so we couldn’t know. But 
we might help you find the treasure. We could 
be more help if you’d tell us what it is.” 

“That’s right,” the boy admitted. “I’m 
guard of the club treasure. There’s a rival 
club. Each club tries to keep the treasure. 
The club that’s lost it by August fifteenth has 
to give a party to the club that has it. The 
Foxes had it for two months. Then we got it. 
We’re the Hounds. I hung the treasure down 
in our lily pool, where I thought it was safe. 
But yesterday the Foxes found it. Tomor¬ 
row’s the fifteenth of August, and if I don’t 
find it, our club will have to give the party. I 
can’t let the Hounds down like that, can I?” 

“Not very well,” Peter answered. “But you 
still haven’t told us what the treasure is.” 

“You’ll keep the secret?” the boy asked. 


— 44 — 




BODIAM CASTLE 


“Yes, we’ll keep it,” Peter promised. 

“It’s the key,” the boy whispered. His voice 
was full of mystery. 

“What kind of a key?” Doris asked. “If it 
would fit into Topsy’s back, we could make 
her dance.” 

“You mean the doll? Why, this key’s as 
big as she is.” The boy held his fingers ever 
so far apart. “It’s this big.” 

“Is it the key to the castle?” Doris asked, 
surprised. 

“It must have been the key to some castle, 
but now it’s the club treasure,” the Hound 
answered. 

“It must be like the big keys in Lewes cas¬ 
tle,” Peter said. “But what makes you think 
it’s hidden here?” 

“I found the tracks that one of the Foxes 
left near the lily pool. I followed them through 
the hedge. Near where the Fox climbed the 
hedge, I found a piece of paper he had lost.” 
The Hound reached into his pocket and pulled 
out a wrinkled paper. “See,” he said, as he 
smoothed it, “it’s a plan of this tower.” 

The children bent over the paper, for the 


— 45 — 



OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


light was dim. Even Topsy stared at it with 
her new eye, while her other eye rolled wisely. 
The Hound pointed out that the paper showed 
a map of the tower. There was no doubt that 
it was this very tower, for the windows were 
not spaced the same as those in the other round 
tower. 

“This must be the place,” Peter said. 

But even though the three children searched, 
they could find no loose stones behind which 
the key might be hidden. They did not find 
enough loose dirt to cover it on the floor. The 
shadows had grown even deeper, for the high 
wall of the tower kept out the light. 

“I’ll bring the torch,” Peter said. 

The torch was a flashlight Peter’s father 
kept in the car. Peter ran to the car where his 
father and mother sat waiting for him and 
Doris to finish seeing the castle. “I want the 
torch,” Peter said. “We need it to find some¬ 
thing.” 

“Topsy hasn’t lost another eye, I hope,” his 
father answered. 

“No, but it’s enough to make her eyes pop 
out of her head.” Peter reached for the torch. 


— 46 — 



BODIAM CASTLE 


“What must you find then?” his mother 
asked. 

“It’s not my secret,” Peter answered, “I 
promised not to tell. But I have to help find it.” 

“That’s right,” his father said, “I’ll trust 
you with my secrets. We’ll pull out of the 
road and wait for you.” 

With the torch, 

Peter ran back to the 
tower. He threw the 
light all about the 
wall. No one could 
find any sign of the 
treasure. But still the 
Hound was sure that 
it must be here. ife 

“The Fox wouldn’t just hang it on the wall,” 
Doris said. “That would be too easy.” Top- 
sy’s eye rolled up and down as much as to 
say that this was a wise thought. 

“I have to find it,” the Hound said firmly. 
“Tomorrow’s the fifteenth of August. I can t 
let my club down.” 

Peter raised the torch above his head to 
light as much of the tower as he could. 



— 47 — 



OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


"What’s that?” he asked, suddenly. The light 
had fallen across one of the tower windows. 
The window was high above his head, but 
Peter could see just the edge of something 
dark there. Whatever it was lay on the wide 
stone sill. 

"That must be it,” the Hound said. "But 
it’s up ever so much higher than we are.” 

"Higher than all of us put together,” Doris 
said, standing on tip toe. 

"You could stand on my shoulder,” Peter 
said to the boy, "and then maybe you could 
reach it with the iron rod.” 

Peter braced himself against the wall, and 
the boy climbed to his shoulder. Doris gave 
him the rod. But he could not reach the win¬ 
dow sill by four inches. “If I’d tie Topsy to 
the rod with my handkerchief,” Doris said, 
"then she could reach and knock down the 
key for you.” 

To their delight, Topsy reached. But as the 
Hound stretched up from Peter’s shoulder, 
he lost his balance. He teetered about to re¬ 
gain it. As he waved his arms, Topsy on the 
rod struck the key the wrong way. Instead of 


— 48 — 




BODIAM CASTLE 


knocking it off inside the tower, it fell out¬ 
side into the moat. 

“I’m glad you didn’t fall into the moat, 
Doris said, as the boy tossed Topsy down to 
her. 

"But what about the treasure?” the boy 
asked. ‘Til have to dive for it.” 

Just then Peter heard his father honk the 
car horn, but Peter did not answer, for he 
wanted to help the Hound out of his plight. 
The precious key lay in the water at the bot¬ 
tom of the moat. 

The Hound ran out of the castle, already 
throwing off his coat. Then to his surprise 
another boy jumped out of the guard house, 
which the children had thought was empty. 
The Hound found himself gripped by a Fox, 
who had just come to see that the treasure was 
safe. He had hidden in the guard house when 
he had heard voices in the tower, and was 
waiting to see who was there. Now he knew 
that the Hound must have found the key. 

"Where is it?” the Fox panted, as he tried to 
down his rival. “Give it over.” 

"I will not,” the Hound answered. He strug- 


— 49 — 



OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 



THE FOX MADE A PLUNGE FOE HIS HAND 


gled free and jumped into the moat. The Fox 
jumped after him. Both boys splashed in the 
water, while a startled swan flapped its wings. 

Peter was on the point of diving in so that 
he could help the Hound, when the Hound’s 
hand was raised out of the water. He held the 
key. The Fox made a plunge for his hand. 
The Hound tossed the key to Peter on the 
path. Peter ran to the car as fast as his legs 


— 50 — 


























BODIAM CASTLE 


could go. The two boys climbed out of the 
water and ran after Peter. The Hound reached 
him first. Peter pulled open the car door and 
pushed the Hound inside. 

“Top speed, father,” Doris cried, as she 
climbed in beside her mother, “the Fox is after 
us.“ 

Her mother looked back at the dripping boy. 
“We’d better take your friend home for dry 
clothes,” she said. 

"I sounded the horn to warn you there might 
be trouble,” Peter’s father said, as he sped 
up the road. “I saw the boy hide in the guard 
house. It might be a good idea if you d an¬ 
swer when I sound the horn.” 

“I’ll remember next time,” Peter promised. 
“This time I had my hands full.” He held up 
the big key to show his father. 

“The Fox will never get the key before to¬ 
morrow,” the Hound said, as Peter gave it to 
him. “I’ll tie it to me this time.” 

The children’s father asked the way to the 
boy’s house and said, with a twinkle in his eye, 
as he drove the Hound home, “Bodiam castle 
just escaped battle today. 


— 51 — 





Windsor Castle 

Where the King's Flag Flies 

Peter and Doris were next taken to Windsor 
Castle. As they approached they could see a 
great central tower rising from castle walls. 
It looked stronger than any castle tower they 
had seen, and in truth it was. The king and 
queen spend part of their time at Windsor 
castle, and that is why it must be so strong. 


— 52 — 















WINDSOR CASTLE 


For hundreds of years English kings have 
come from the crowds and smoke of London 
to stay for a while in this castle which looks 
down on the green Thames valley. From the 
castle windows they can see one of the love¬ 
liest views in England. The Thames river is 
at their feet. Woods stretch beyond the river. 
At Eton nearby the English school boys can 
be seen playing cricket. 

“It’s lucky for us that the king’s flag does 
not fly from the round tower today,” Peter’s 
father said. 

“I’d like to see the king’s flag,” Doris an¬ 
swered. 

“But the flag is raised only when the king 
is at Windsor. If he were there, we could not 
see the castle. A king has a right to his castle, 
you know. I hope you’re both feeling fit to¬ 
day, because we’re going into the castle by 
the hundred steps.” 

Peter and Doris did not mind how many 
steps there were as long as they led to a castle. 
That is, they thought they did not mind until 
they began to climb them. A hundred steps 
take a lot of climbing. Half way up, Doris 


— 53 — 



OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


looked toward the top and wondered if she 
would ever reach it. 

“A hundred and twenty-two,” Peter called 
back to her, for he had gone ahead, ‘‘I’ve 
counted.” 

Topsy’s eyes had a glassy stare, as if she 
thought there was no good reason for building 
a castle so high. But Topsy did not know that 
in the old days kings built their castles in high 
places to guard against danger. The hundred 
steps were not the only ones the children 
climbed at Windsor. There were steps to the 
keep, and they were so narrow that only one 
man at a time could climb them. This too was 
for safety. And the archer’s windows were so 
slim that an arrow could be shot through them, 
but no torch could be thrown inside to bum 
the castle. The great round tower stood in 
the center of the outer walls. 

The guide told the story of the deep well 
in the center of this tower. For years no one 
knew that the well was there. One day some 
workmen found a great round stone under the 
tower floor. The stone covered the well. It 
had been dug through the lime stone bluff on 


— 54 — 





the walls were hung with pictures 
















































































































































































OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


which Windsor stands and reached down to 
the Thames river. During a siege, those in 
the castle did not suffer for lack of water. 

To one side of the tower Peter and Doris 
saw the part of the castle where the king and 
his guests come to stay. A guard led the chil¬ 
dren through the rooms where the royal guests 
are made welcome. The walls were hung with 
pictures. Everything was so fine that the chil¬ 
dren felt as if they hardly dared move. But 
the guide led them on, telling who sat in this 
velvet chair and who slept in that carved bed. 
Peter breathed more freely when he was out 
again in the court yard. 

“If I had stubbed my toe,” he said to Doris, 
“I’d have been sure to fall over one of the 
king’s vases.” 

Peter was so glad to escape without break¬ 
ing anything that he hurried with the guide 
to the other end of the castle. 

This was the part Peter liked best. It stood 
just above the river. It too had towers, not as 
large as the center tower, but still towers of 
which any castle might be proud. The guide 
led the way through the Horseshoe Cloisters. 


— 56 — 




WINDSOR CASTLE 


In the past kings had hunted deer in the great 
park near Windsor. They rode fine horses, 
and one of the royal badges they wore had the 
pattern of a horseshoe on it. And so Edward 
IV had cloisters built in the shape of a horse¬ 
shoe. The castle horses were honored as well 
as the guests. 

Near the Horseshoe Cloisters the guide 
pointed to the Garter Tower. 

This seemed to Doris an odd name for a 
tower. “Did you say the Garter?” she asked. 

“It was built by one of the first Knights of 
the Garter,” the guide answered. “There are 
still Knights of the Garter, and they are the 
proudest of any in England. They chose this 
for their first meeting place because King 
Arthur and his knights were said to have met 
here.” 

“Did King Arthur live here too?” Peter 
asked, for the story of the Knights of the 
Round Table was one of the stories that Peter 
liked best. 

“That’s the legend,” the guide answered, 
“and it tells that King Arthur knew this place 
even before a castle stood on the hill. William 


— 57 — 




THE GUIDE POINTED TO THE GARTER TOWER 


the Conqueror built the first tower. Most of 
the kings of England have done their bit of 
building here. Queens too have brought their 
builders to Windsor.” 

Peter had never before stood on a spot 
where so many kings had stood. He began to 
feel almost like one himself. As if some magic 
were at work, a crown seemed to rest on his 
head. He put up his hand, hardly daring to 
hope that he would really find a crown. But 
to his delight, there was one. Peter lifted the 
crown from his head to see if it were made of 


— S8 — 

































WINDSOR CASTLE 



THEN SHE HAD SUPPED IT ON PETER’S HEAD 


gold and set with jewels. Then he heard a 
merry laugh behind him. 

While the guide had told his story of the 
kings who had lived here, Doris remembered 
the frill which had been around the pudding 
at dinner. It was of bright yellow paper and 
it had pleased Doris even more than the pud¬ 
ding. The waiter had given her the frill, and 
until a few moments ago she had carried it in 
her coat pocket. Then she had slipped it on 


— 59 — 















OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


Peter’s head. A raisin from the pudding still 
clung to the paper crown and was its jewel. 

But now it was Doris’s turn to be surprised. 
Peter, after one look at the crown, stuck it 
back on his head. He turned to her with a 
royal gesture of his hand. “You are my sub¬ 
ject,” he said. “Obey my orders.” His voice 
was so solemn that Doris began to wish she 
had not crowned him king. “Follow in my 
train,” King Peter ordered. 

Doris had started the game. It was only 
fair to play it to the finish. With a kingly step 
Peter marched behind the guard, and Doris 
followed. She did not know that Peter was a 
puzzled king. He could think of no task to 
demand of his subject. It was the first time 
he had worn a crown, and he intended to make 
the most of it. The guide opened the door of 
the Bell Tower. He told of its peal of bells. 
Now Peter had an idea. He would order his 
subject to ring the bells. 

“Climb the tower,” King Peter ordered. 

Doris wished more than ever that she had 
not crowned him king. She had climbed so 
many steps today that she wanted to climb 


60 — 





WINDSOR CASTLE 


no more. But Peter clung to his royal right. 
His subject must climb the steps. Doris began 
the long climb. 

“Ring the bells,” Peter ordered, when she 
had reached the top of the tower. 

But now the guide reminded Peter that the 
bells were rung only on very special occasions. 
“If a prince were born here, then the bells 
would ring.” 

But Peter had no prince. He could not order 
the bells to announce a prince to his people. 
He had no reason to have the bells rung. He 
must find other work for his subject. And so 
for the moment Doris was spared. But Peter’s 
thoughts were busy. His subject would have 
other reason to know that he ruled. He would 
go back to the Great Tower and find there a 
task to prove her loyalty. 

As he led her into the courtyard again, a 
strong wind was blowing. It caught the paper 
crown from Peter’s head. It carried the crown 
over the wall and dropped it into the river. 

“Now I am free,” Doris said, as she watched 
the crown float away. 

Peter was no longer a king. He looked up 


— 61 — 



OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


at the castle which had known so many kings. 
He wondered if their crowns were heavy. And 
as the guide told him more of the long line of 
kings who had sought refuge at peaceful 
Windsor, Peter knew that they must have felt 
the weight of their crowns. 

From William the Conqueror who liked to 
have a finger in building castles, down through 
the years, kings had come and built new tow¬ 
ers at Windsor. It was one of the few places 
where they could play in safety, and they may 
have built for the same reason that children 
build towers with blocks. William the Con¬ 
queror built the walls. Two hundred years 
later Henry III built the first complete tower 
and strengthened the walls. 

In 1344 Edward III, weary of war, came to 
Windsor and rested from battle while he 
wholly rebuilt the castle. It so pleased him 
that he invited here the bravest knights of 
England and formed the order of The Knights 
of the Garter. George IV built even higher the 
flag tower. Block upon block Windsor rose. 

Guests came to enjoy it. The splendid 
Knights of the Garter held their meetings. 

— 62 — 




GUESTS CAME TO ENJOY IT 

























OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


Great artists were called to add to its beauty. 
Fine carpets were woven for it. Gardens 
bloomed beneath its windows. Queens walked 
in the gardens. Beyond Windsor stretched the 
great park, where kings hunted and horns 
sounded merrily. 

“But there were prisoners too,” the guide 
reminded the children, as if even peaceful 
Windsor must live up to the story of castles. 
He pointed to a window above one of the 
gates. “There is a prison. It has not been 
used for many years. A Scottish king was held 
prisoner there, but he was well treated.” 

The guide said this as if Windsor could not 
really be unkind to any one. “The king who 
was prisoner spent his time reading. He 
studied the needs of his people. And when he 
returned to his kingdom to rule, it was said 
that he was a better king because of the years 
he had spent here.” And so it seemed that 
even to its prisoners Windsor had some reward 
to offer. 

As Peter and Doris left the castle and came 
down toward the river, the paper crown lay 
in the grasses that grew to the water’s edge. 


— 64 — 




Warwick Castle 

Where Peacocks Walk 

The children’s father rang the bell of the 
little house that stands at the gate of Warwick 
Castle. The house is the porter’s lodge, and 
he sells the tickets to see the castle. Doris and 
Peter climbed a winding road cut in the solid 
rock. Above them rose the castle walls. On 
one of these walls was a sun dial with its fin- 


— 65 — 
































OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


ger pointed to the hour. Next they came to the 
castle door, before which stretched a garden. 

In the garden Doris saw a fountain and 
beautiful peacocks walking on the grass. 
Wide steps led into the garden, and beside 
them were big vases of flowers. Doris wished 
that she might play there, but a guide opened 
the castle door, took their tickets and closed 
the door. Then he marched the children and 
their parents off to Caesar’s Tower. 

The jguide must have been a soldier at one 
time. He took a special pride in Caesar’s 
Tower. It was very high and strong, but it 
was not of its strength alone that the guide 
boasted. He told of the skill with which it 
had been built. The archer’s windows had not 
been placed the same distance apart. This 
made it hard for the enemy to know where to 
find them. Arrows could be shot from secret 
windows. Stones could be thrown on the 
heads of the enemy. 

As he told of these stones, the guide pointed 
to a shelf of wall below. It had been built so 
that a stone hurled from above would hit the 
shelf. From the shelf it would bounce off with 
— 66 — 























































































































































































































OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


an extra hard whack at the enemy. It would 
seem that stones and arrows might be enough 
to save the castle in time of siege, but the 
builders of this castle took no chances. There 
were holes in the tower through which hot 
oil could be poured on heads below. 

“That’s why you see the tower standing 
today,” the guide said to the children. He 
looked very much like a soldier who might 
have hurled arrows and rocks, to say nothing 
of hot oil. 

Doris and Peter could see his point. “Hot 
oil and bouncing rocks!” Peter exclaimed. It 
was plain to see that the tower’s grim answer 
to those who would wage war against it had 
been “No.” 

Its strength was the main reason why War¬ 
wick castle had not fallen to ruin. But the 
guide reminded the children that strength 
alone could not have kept the castle in its 
present beauty. It owed its beauty to the earls 
of Warwick who had made it their home. 

For hundreds of years the castle had been 
the home of earls whose names were written 
through the pages of history. One of them 


— 68 — 




•THAT’S WHY YOU SEE THE TOWER STANDING TODAY 






































OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


had been called “the Father of Courtesy.” 
It was he whom Henry V chose as the guardian 
of the young prince who was to become king. 
From the earl, the little son of Henry V learned 
many lessons. Even after the boy was king, 
the Father of Courtesy guided him. Until the 
young king grew to be a man, the Earl of 
Warwick was a second father to him. 

Another earl who lived in the castle was 
called “the King Maker.” He wanted his 
cousin, Edward of York, to have the throne. 
And so he captured the man who was king of 
England and held him prisoner. The earl had 
his cousin named king. 

Still another earl was a leader of the, Puri¬ 
tans who founded the American colonies. The 
name of the Earl of Warwick is written in the 
history of both Massachusetts and Rhode 
Island. Through siege and battle, the earls of 
Warwick held high offices in England. 

Now it had been many years since arrows 
had flown from the castle windows. The great 
tower has long since stood in peace. It stands 
mirrored in the river below it. Those who 
now live in the castle of which Caesar’s Tower 


— 70 — 



WARWICK CASTLE 


is part have no cause to fear. Warwick is still 
a home. 

The guide took Peter and Doris into the 
great hall where hundreds of candles had 
lighted the feasts spread for guests of the 
castle. He showed the children a living room 
which looked out over the river. A fire burned 
on the hearth. There were books on the table, 
and one lay on the arm of a chair as if some 
one had been reading here only a few mo¬ 
ments ago. The room had fine pictures and 
furniture, but Peter liked the book better than 
all the fine things of which the guide boasted. 
It was a boy’s book, and its edges were worn 
as if it had been read over and over again. 

The guide stood by the door, waiting for 
Peter to follow. The others had left the room 
and stood outside by the stairs. As Peter came 
toward the door he saw beside it a boy s suit 
of armor. It was like the armor worn by 
knights long ago, but it was for a very small 
boy. Probably some future earl of the castle 
had worn it. The metal of which it was made 
shone from its headpiece to its pointed toes. 
It had a visor over the eyes. The visor lifted 


— 71 — 



OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 



BUT THE ARMOR TEMPTED HIM EVEN MORE 


with a hinge. Peter did so want to see how 
the visor worked. The guide had warned him 
to touch nothing. He had not touched the 
book, even though he had wanted to ever so 
much. But the armor tempted him even more. 

The guide turned to answer a question 
Peter’s father asked from the stair. Peter 
lifted the visor. To his surprise a small silver 
compass fell from it into his hand. As he 


— 72 — 

























WARWICK CASTLE 


stood looking at the compass, he heard foot¬ 
steps behind him. A boy had opened a door 
at the other end of the room. He looked to¬ 
ward the chair by the fireplace. 

“Pardon,” the boy said, when he saw Peter, 
“I thought every one had gone. I came for my 
book. When the visitor’s bell rang, I had to 
leave quickly, and I forgot the book on the 
chair arm.” 

“It must be a nuisance,” Peter said, hav¬ 
ing to turn out for visitors whom you don’t 
know at all.” 

The boy only smiled and reached for the 
book. Peter found himself embarrassed. In 
his open hand he still held the compass which 
he had been on the point of poking back under 
the visor when the boy came into the room. 
What must the boy think of him? He had not 
asked Peter to return it, perhaps because some 
of the grace of “the Father of Courtesy” had 
fallen upon this son of the castle. Peter felt 
that it was due him to make a clean breast of 
having disobeyed the guide’s order. 

“Is this your compass?” he asked, holding 
it toward the boy. 


— 73 — 




OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


The boy’s face lighted. “Wherever did you 
find it?” he asked, as he hurried toward Peter. 

“In the armor. I wanted to see how the visor 
worked, and the compass fell out of the 
armor.” 

“I’ve hunted all about the castle for it,” the 
boy said. “The butler didn’t want me to have 
it because one day I followed his turns with 
it. He’s a very proper butler and he turns on 
his heel just so. I think he’s got eyes in the 
back of his head, though. He must have seen 
what I was doing, and he probably did not 
fancy my checking his turns by the compass. 
He must have hidden it in the armor where he 
thought I would not find it.” 

Peter gave the compass to the boy. “The 
armor’s not a bad place for hiding.” 

“Not bad,” the boy agreed. “But my pock¬ 
et’s better. Thanks very much.” 

Peter said good-bye to the boy and joined 
his family. At the foot of the stairs the guide 
opened a door which led into the garden. He 
said that the gardener would show the way 
about there. 

While the others looked at the roses, Doris 


— 74 — 




WARWICK CASTLE 



played by the fountain. Two peacocks trailed 
their long green feathers beside it. Doris tried 
to coax them to her. They only walked away, 
but one stood looking at her from a little dis¬ 
tance. When it would not come, she tried to 
catch it. It escaped her and flew up to the 
edge of the fountain. 


— 75 — 





















OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


Doris tried to stroke it with her hand. It 
pecked at her and spread its feathers in a 
great fan. It was so beautiful that Doris 
reached out her hand again to touch it. Topsy 
was hanging by one arm from Doris’s other 
hand and the peacock snatched Topsy. It gave 
the most awful screech and dropped the doll 
into the fountain. 

“Go away,” Doris cried as she fished Topsy 
out of the water. “I don’t care how beautiful 
you are. You’re a rude bird.” 

Poor Topsy was soaked. Doris shook the 
water from her. Then she joined her mother, 
who was just coming from the rose garden. 
“That peacock ought to be shut up in Caesar’s 
Tower,” said Doris. “I tried to be friendly 
and see what it did to Topsy.” 

“It probably needs a lesson from the Father 
of Courtesy,” Doris’s mother answered. 



— 76 — 




Kenilworth Castle 

Where Knights Were Bold 

Doris and Peter entered the gate which leads 
to Kenilworth Castle. This castle they found 
in ruins. But even though its great windows 
were open now to the weather, some of the 
pomp of its earlier days seemed to linger. It 
may have been its gay color, for it was built) 
of red sandstone. Three times it had wel¬ 
comed Queen Elizabeth as a guest. The great- 


— 77 — 


















OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


est of her knights had met here to join in the 
revels. 

A man who had all the bearing of a knight 
now came toward the children. He greeted 
them proudly and swept his hat before them 
in a low bow. Then he lifted his arm toward 
the castle ruins and pointed to a long flight 
of stone steps. 

“Down those steps,” he said solemnly, “in 
the dead of night came Amy Robsart.” 

Peter and Doris had never heard of Amy 
Robsart, but she came to life for them at that 
moment. They could almost see her fleeing 
down the steps. The actor guide, who looked 
like a knight, was soon telling of Queen Eliza¬ 
beth’s day, when Amy Robsart lived in Kenil¬ 
worth Castle. He told of her beauty and of the 
silk dresses she wore. He placed royal knights 
and ladies all about her. He was caught in 
the magic of the story he told. As if this magic 
changed him before the children’s eyes, he 
became Amy Robsart. 

He mounted the steps and fled down them. 
He ran past the Swan Tower across the grassy 
court. In a green nook overhung with shrubs, 


— 78 — 





"WHAT MAY THIS MEAN?” SHE DEMANDED 






















































OVER THE CASTLE W ALLS ^ < _ 

he hid. The children ran after him. And then 
he showed that Amy’s was not the only part 
he could play. He next became Queen Eliza¬ 
beth. He began to act a scene in which he 
was first one and then the other. 

The queen dragged Amy from the nook. 
“What may this mean?” she demanded. 

The actor was now the trembling Amy. He 
fell on his knees and raised his hands in a 
plea for help. “Your protection, madam,” 
Amy begged of the queen. 

The actor jumped to his feet and became 
the queen. “Each daughter of England has it 
while she is worthy of it,” answered the queen. 

“I request. I implore,” begged Amy. 

But the queen was not pleased to grant the 
request Amy had to make. “This is folly, 
maiden,” the actor thundered, in the role of 
queen. 

And then poor Amy shrank back in terror 
before the queen’s anger. But the queen half 
dragged the beautiful girl across the court¬ 
yard. The actor marched with the firm step 
of a queen in anger. Doris and Peter followed, 
for they did not want to miss any of the show. 


— 80 — 




KENILWORTH CASTLE 


Into the castle raged the queen. The actor 
shifted his part first to the queen and then to 
Amy. Doris could almost see Amy’s fright¬ 
ened face as the queen dragged her into the 
presence of the royal company in the castle. 

And now the actor became an earl, and a 
lord, and a knight, in such quick order that the 
castle seemed to be filled with people. They 
were dressed in velvet. They wore jewels. 
They were the queen’s chosen friends. Into 
their midst the queen moved rapidly and point¬ 
ed an angry finger at the luckless Amy. 

“Knowst thou this woman?” demanded the 
queen. 

The actor turned earl and answered. He 
defied the queen. 

The queen threatened to have off his head. 
And then the actor took another role. As 
Hunsdon, he shook a long gray beard. Into 
Hunsdon’s care poor Amy was given. He led 
her from the castle hall. 

And having ended this scene, the actor 
rushed outside again to the courtyard. He 
acted the hunt. He put his hands to his lips 
and sounded the hunting horn. He bayed like 


— 81 — 



OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


the hounds. He pranced like the horses. He 
looked to his spurs. In rapid stride he acted 
out the whole scene of the hunt—knights, 
hounds, and horses. “To horse! To horse!” 
he shouted, and was off across the courtyard 
at a gallop. 

Doris and Peter looked after him, their eyes 
filled with the vision of the days he had 
seemed to bring back to the castle. Again for 
them it was a lived-in castle. In it were knights 
and ladies. Candle light gleamed on their silks 
and velvets. Among them moved the queen, 
not in the best of tempers, it was true. But 
even so, she was safe at Kenilworth, for ten 
thousand soldiers guarded the castle. 

Never had a castle’s past been so real to 
the children. They seemed to see the queen 
in these ruined walls, that had once been made 
so splendid for her visits. The passages 
through the thick walls were so long that even 
though her royal robes trailed sixteen feet be¬ 
hind her, there was space for them to lie un¬ 
crushed between the doors. From an arched 
window the actor pointed to where there had 
been a lake about which gardens bloomed. 


82 — 





























































OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


“When the queen looked from this window 
she saw an island floating on the lake. Torches 
lighted it. On the island a pageant was acted 
for her.” The actor paused to sigh as if by 
living several hundred years too late he had 
missed acting for a queen. 

But for the children he had made the castle 
live again. Never would they remember Ken¬ 
ilworth as an empty ruin, but as a castle where 
they had seen the queen and her court. As 
they came back across the courtyard, the actor 
paused. Now he was the castle guide. 

“That which I have given you, my friends,” 
he said, “is Sir Walter Scott.” 

The children looked at him in amazement. 
Surely the scenes he had made so real must 
have taken place. The guide hastened to as¬ 
sure them. He told of how one day a shy and 
earnest man had come to see the castle as the 
children had today. He climbed the stairs and 
walked among the ruined walls. He stood at 
the arched windows, thinking. He went away 
as quietly as he had come. 

“And he wrote the story I have just acted 
for you,” the guide ended. 


— 84 — 



KENILWORTH CASTLE 


“Then it wasn’t true at all?” Doris gasped 
in dismay. 

“Yes, it was a true story,” the guide an¬ 
swered. “It all happened here as he wrote of 
it. Queen Elizabeth 
herself once looked 
from the window 
where you stood. The 
lovely Amy lived 
within the castle 
walls. There were 
knights and ladies at 
Kenilworth. Sir 
Walter called them 
back again, and so 
they lived once 
more.” 

“I wish every castle 
could have a guide 
like you,” Doris said, 
looking back at the 
window where Queen 
Elizabeth had stood. 



— 85 — 







Nottingham Castle 

Which Stands Over Robin Hood's Caves 

Peter and Doris stood at the door of the 
Flying Horse Hotel in Nottingham. They 
faced the largest Market Place in England, 
while their father reminded them of the kings 
who had passed this way. David of Scotland 
had been held a prisoner in Nottingham, Ed¬ 
ward IV had brought his troops together here, 


— 86 










NOTTINGHAM CASTLE 



ABOVE THE TREES THEY COULD SEE A CASTLE 


Richard III had gone forth to battle, Charles I 
had set up his standard. 

Most of these kings had granted their favor 
to Nottingham. By royal charter they had 
given it fairs and a market and a Lord Mayor, 
who is much grander than an ordinary mayor. 
Queens had visited Nottingham, and one of 
them had given it a fair which is still as festive 
as any in England. 

“And so you see you’re in a city so enchant¬ 
ing that it turned crowned heads to thoughts 
of giving,” the children’s father said. 

“But didn’t any of the kings build a castle 
here?” Doris asked. 

Surely when kings showered their bounty 


— 87 — 





OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


on Nottingham they had not forgotten to build 
a castle for the town! 

“To be sure, one did,” her father answered. 
“No less than William the Conqueror himself. 
He built a castle.” 

“Where is it?” Doris asked, standing on tip 
toe, for she could see no castle. She looked 
up at the sign of the hotel above her head. 



88 — 





NOTTINGHAM CASTLE 


"The Flying Horse is too well tied to its 
hitching post to take you to the castle,” her 
mother remarked. “But we’ll find the way.” 

Peter had been silent. His thoughts were 
of a hero who interested him far more than 
kings, for Nottingham was the scene of the 
pranks Robin Hood played on the Lord High 
Sheriff. To Peter, the merry outlaw was more 
than crowned heads. “I want to see the 
caves,” Peter declared, for it was in the caves 
that Robin Hood had taken refuge while the 
king’s men sought in vain to capture him. 

“Nottingham was named for the caves,” the 
children’s father said, “the old Saxon name 
for the city means caves. To be sure, we won’t 
pass them by. We’ll find the castle standing 
on top of them.” 

He turned back to the Flying Horse and 
asked the way of the innkeeper. Doris and 
Peter followed their parents out of the Mar¬ 
ket Place. They had not gone far along a 
winding city street when they saw a wooded 
hill rising high over the roof tops. Above the 
trees they could see a castle. 

The castle was oblong, with no towers and 


— 89 





OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


a flat roof. It looked a bit solemn, crowning 
its hill. It did not invite any nonsense. Peter 
smiled as he thought of Robin Hood and his 
merry men hiding in the caves of the very 
rock on which the castle stood. 

So intent was Peter on finding the caves that 
he ran ahead of the others. He found old 
houses built against the castle rock which 
formed part of the house walls. He also found 
the caves. The rock was like a giant’s honey¬ 
comb, and each cell was a cave. 

But Peter met with a disappointment. The 
caves were all boarded up, as if those in the 
castle feared that Robin Hood might return 
and make mischief. There wasn’t so much as 
a crack through which Peter could crawl. 
When the rest of the family reached him, he 
stood looking quite forlorn. 

“What’s wrong, Peter?” Doris asked. 

“Everything,” he blurted out. “Look at 
that.” And he thumped a board with his fist. 

“There might be a way down from inside 
the castle,” Doris suggested. 

Peter’s hope revived. He hurried past the 
steep rock to the castle gate. The gate had 


— 90 — 



NOTTINGHAM CASTLE 


two round towers, and when the children 
reached it a guard stepped out of the tower. 
“We want to see the castle,” Peter said. 

“This gate is all that’s left standing of Not¬ 
tingham’s early castle,” the guard answered 
as solemnly as if the walls had just fallen 
before his eyes and he had not yet recovered 
from this unhappy event. 

But the children could certainly see a castle 
on top of the hill, and unless he had bewitched 
them, the stone walls had not fallen. “What’s 
that?” Peter asked, pointing. 

“That,” the guard answered, “is the new 
castle.” His tone suggested that it had been 
built only yesterday, and was a mere upstart 
beside his gate with the towers. “The new 
castle was built in 1 674,” he managed to add. 

This was old enough for Peter and Doris. 
The castle stood over the caves and if for no 
other reason than this, it was worth the climb 
up the hill. And so they came to the castle 
door. 

Inside, Peter’s hopes met another blow. The 
rooms were full of pictures and china. Every¬ 
thing was in order, and so tidy that there was 


— 91 — 




OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


no sign of Robin Hood here. Peter could find 
no secret stair. There were other rooms full 
of lace, for Nottingham lace had been known 
the world over. Hundreds of bobbins had 
spun back and forth to make the lace, and the 
bobbins were here to prove their share in Not¬ 
tingham’s history. But Peter was not seeking 
bobbins, no matter how many dainty frills 
they had to their credit. He hunted for a stair 
which would take him beneath the castle. 

At last he found a sign which brought him 
joy. On the sign he read that for three pennies 
extra he could see Mortimer’s Hole. It must 
be somewhere below in the rock. “This looks 
like something,’’ he said to Doris. 

The children sought the guide to pay him 
their pennies. In the next room they found 
him, looking as pompous as the Lord High 
Sheriff himself. “We want to see where Robin 
Hood hid from the king’s men,” Peter said. 
Too late he realized that his request was hard¬ 
ly tactful. 

The guide’s shoulders stiffened as if the 
mention of the outlaw’s name had dealt him 
a blow. “Mortimer’s Hole was not for Robin 


— 92 — 




NOTTINGHAM CASTLE 

Hood. It is a secret passage through which a 
king entered the castle when an enemy held 
the gate.” 

Nevertheless, Peter held out sixpence for 
two tickets. If the passage were a secret way 
through the caves, it must lead to Robin 
Hood’s hiding place. 

But the guide, from long experience with 
other boys who had asked to see the passage 
for the same reason Peter had, read his 
thought. “Mortimer’s Hole is inside the castle 
walls,” he said, as if Robin Hood would never 
dare set foot in it. “The end of the passage 
is sealed.” 

“But why were the caves boarded up?” 
Peter asked reproachfully. 

“They weren’t safe,” the guide answered, 
in a voice of proud authority, half the boys 
in Nottingham played Robin Hood in them. 
Rocks might have fallen and then we’d have 
had a great to-do over cut heads. We couldn t 
bother with the caves. 

Of all the castle guides Peter had met this 
one pleased him least. But the guide could 
let him into the secret passage, and until Peter 


— 93 — 


OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


saw it with his own eyes he would not give 
up hope. He still held out the sixpence. 

“I’ll bring the key,” the guide said, none 
too graciously. 

The children followed him to a low door in 
an arched alcove near the castle stair. He 
reached behind a picture which hung near the 
door. Then his eyes flashed in astonishment. 
His grand manner vanished as he stared stu¬ 
pidly at the picture and groped behind it. 
“One moment,” he muttered. He turned and 
scurried up the castle stairs like a frightened 
rabbit. All his pomp had forsaken him. A 
grin spread over Peter’s face. 

“Mind you don’t laugh out loud, Peter,” 
Doris cautioned, “or he won’t let us into the 
passage when he does find the key.” 

But when he returned it was evident that 
the key was still missing. He brought with 
him the guide from upstairs. They looked 
about the alcove and went to question the 
guide who stood over the bobbins and lace. 
He had not seen the key. The three guides 
put their heads solemnly together. Doris and 
Peter waited the result. The three heads 

— 94 — 





NOTTINGHAM CASTLE 


wagged, and that 
they wagged in 
vain Peter soon 
learned, for the 
first guide at 
length came to¬ 
ward him and 
said, “If you’ll 
come another day, 
you may see the 
passage.” 

“We can’t come another day,” Doris an¬ 
swered, “because we’ll be somewhere else.” 

“I’m sorry,” the guide said, “but the key’s 
misplaced, for the moment.” The tone in 
which he said these last words betrayed his 
fear that it might be a good many moments 
before he found the key. 

And so the children had to leave the castle 
without seeing Mortimer’s Hole. It was time 
for tea and their father was hunting a tea 
shop. Down the hill and around the rock they 
saw a sign hanging over a door. It said, “THE 
GOOSE FAIR. TEAS.” A tea shop which 
took its name from Nottingham’s famous fair 



— 95 — 



OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


must not be too bad, Peter thought, and be¬ 
sides it was buik against the castle rock. The 
children’s father rang the bell. “May we have 
tea?” he asked. 

“And crumpets?” Doris added, for by now 
she was very hungry. 

“Crumpets is off,” the maid answered. Her 
tone suggested that when crumpets were off, 
there was not one to be found in all of Not¬ 
tingham, not even 
if she turned the 
castle rock upside 
down to look for it. 
“But there are 
scones,” she added, 
“and tarts, and it 
won’t take a min¬ 
ute to make the 
tea.” 

She opened the first door at her left and 
motioned them into a room. While the house 
was built against the rock, this room looked 
out on the street. At the end of the passage, 
however, Peter had seen a low door which 
must lead into the rock. When the maid left' 

— 96 — 







NOTTINGHAM CASTLE 


PETER SAW THAT THE ROOM HAD WALLS OF ROCK 

to bring the tea, he slipped into the passage. 
He opened the door he had seen and stooped 
to keep from bumping his head. 

Two boys jumped up from a table and faced 
him with a challenge. On the table burned a 
candle, and in the brief instant before one of 
the boys blew it out, Peter saw that the room 
had walls of rock. But now Peter stood in 
darkness. 

— 97 — 



























OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


“Who gave you leave to enter?” a voice 
demanded. 

The voice was stern. After all, Peter had 
taken a great liberty to which he was not 
entitled when he opened the closed door, and 
he hastened to explain. “I want to see inside 
the cave,” he said. “I tried at the castle, but 
the guide can’t find the key.” 

A roar of laughter greeted this statement. 

“He has no fondness for Robin Hood,” 
Peter added. 

“Thou speakest true,” a voice answered. 
“Are you in league with the guide?” 

“Not by Robin Hood’s arrow,” Peter de¬ 
clared. 

“Nobly said,” came the answer. 

Peter heard the sound of a match striking, 
and the candle was relighted. He blinked his 
eyes as he looked at the shadows on the rock 
walls. “This is something like it,” he said 
with approval. 

There were rows of cheeses on a shelf; and 
sacks, which for all Peter knew, might contain 
Robin Hood’s store of food, were piled upon 
the floor. 


— 98 




NOTTINGHAM CASTLE 


“We give you large leave to join our band,” 
the taller of the two boys said. “The guide, 
methinks, will seek long for his key. He gives 
cause. Right heartily will we let him seek 
before he finds the key. The loss may temper 
his boast that Robin Hood ne’er gained en¬ 
trance to the castle.” 

“You have the key?” Peter asked, and he 
too was laughing at the prank. 

“We found its hiding place and chose for 
it another. It now hangs behind the ancient 
shield in the south room. Fortune favored us 
on our visit to the castle this morning. 

“Now I can believe that Robin Hood is not 
forgotten,” Peter said. 

“And never will be,” the younger of the 
boys answered. “But, whist— and he bent 
an ear toward the door, * I hear a voice. 

“Peter,” his father called, “tea’s here.” 

“He went into the store room back there 
with the master’s boys,” the maid explained. 
“They’re always playing Robin Hood in the 
cave where we store the cheese and vegeta¬ 
bles.” 

“Peter! Your tea’s waiting.” 


— 99 — 




York Castle 

Little Lost Castle 


Doris and Peter were in the old city of York. 
The streets were narrow and winding. 
“Where’s the castle?” Peter asked. 

None of the family could see any sign of 
one. York was such a big city that the castle 
seemed lost in it. The children could see a 


—100 — 


































THE GABLES LEANED TOWARD EACH OTHER 



















































































































OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


great church. Its glass windows were colored 
like jewels, and its two towers reached toward 
the sky. York Minster was a church of which 
any city had a right to be proud. In its pride 
of the Minster, York seemed to have forgotten 
its castle. 

York had so many treasures. There were 
fine old houses filled with beautiful things. 
There was a Merchant’s Hall, where the Mer¬ 
chant Adventurers had met for several cen¬ 
turies, and had passed on their titles from 
father to son. There was a Guild hall too and 
it was beautiful. All of these buildings were 
the pride of York, but none was the castle. 

Doris and Peter walked about the streets, 
hoping to find a tower which would guide 
them. Some of the older streets were so nar¬ 
row that the houses almost touched overhead. 

Their gables leaned toward each other as if 
they were telling secrets. But lowly gables 
were not castles. 

“If we walk on top of the city wall we might 
see the castle from there,” Peter said. 

Once the whole city of York had stood 
within its white wall. No one could enter ex- 


-102 — 





YORK CASTLE 


cept through the gates, and these were guard¬ 
ed well. Then there came a time when York 
grew beyond its walls. It seemed to burst 
through the very stone of which they were 
made. The wall remains, although there are 
gaps in it where the growing city seemed to 
have pushed through it. 

A path runs on top of the wall. To reach 
this path Peter and Doris climbed the steps of 
one of the old city gates. They were soon 
walking near the roof tops of York. They 
looked down into gardens. They could see 
children playing about the houses. They 
could see the great towers of the Minster. 

The part of the wall on which they walked 
ended in a gate. They came down the steps, 
since there was nothing else to do unless they 
should go back as they had come. But soon 
they saw another gate. Steps again led up to 
the wall. They climbed the steps, hoping to 
see the castle. They saw none, but the chil¬ 
dren caught sight of two soldiers standing high 
on another gate. 

“We’ll ask them where the castle is, Peter 
said. 


— 103 



OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


And so the children followed the wall to 
the next gate. Its towers were so high that 
the soldiers stood far above Peter’s head. He 
cupped his hands to his mouth and called up 
to them. “Where’s the castle?” he shouted. 

There was no answer. 

Peter stepped inside one of the towers. A 
winding stair rose before him. He began to 
climb. Doris followed. Part of the stair was 
dark; it was lighted only by narrow slits in 
the stone. Peter and Doris had to feel their 
way along the walls. At last they reached 
the top. 

“Where’s the castle?” Peter asked again. 

Still there was no answer. 

Peter stepped nearer a soldier, then he saw 
that the soldier was carved of stone. He had 
been standing there for many years. In the 
days when the city must be guarded closely, 
an enemy looking toward it always saw sol¬ 
diers on the gates above the walls. When the 
real soldiers were off duty, the stone ones 
served for them. But even though this soldier 
had looked out over the city for six hundred 
years, he could not answer Peter’s question. 


— 104 — 





THE SOLDIERS STOOD FAR ABOVE PETER’S HEAD 
























































































OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


The children came back down the tower 
stair. Again they followed the wall. This 
part of it stood above an older wall which the 
Romans had built. Again the children came 
to a gate. And from the top of this gate Peter 
saw what he had been seeking. 

On a steep but small hill stood a ruined 
tower. Around it was a gray frowning wall, 
not at all like the clean city wall. The tower 
on its single hill looked lost and lonely. But 
it must be the castle. 

“I’ve found it,” Peter said, when the chil¬ 
dren rejoined their father and mother. 

They walked toward the tower, almost fear¬ 
ing they would lose it again before they 
reached it. They came to the gray wall. A 
guard let them pass through a small gate. 
They could enter only the ruined tower of the 
castle, for all the rest had become a prison. 

“Climb the hill and you’ll find the door to 
Clifford’s Tower,” he said. “The rest of the 
castle is still a prison. I’m sure you don’t want 
to go there. But Clifford’s Tower is the oldest 
part. It has stood here since William the Con¬ 
queror built it.” 


— 106 — 



YORK CASTLE 


Peter and Doris started up the steps which 
led to the hill. But the guide called them. 

“You’ll need the key,” he said, and from a 
shining brass peg he took a big key with a 
wooden tag as long as Peter’s hand. “You 
may go where you wish in the tower, and 
bring me the key again when you’ve finished.” 

The wind roared about the hill as the chil¬ 
dren climbed it. Peter clung to his hat while 
he unlocked the castle door. He and Doris 
entered an oddly shaped tower. Its floor 
looked as if four great circles had been laid to 
overlap in a square with rounded corners. 
There were really four towers bound into one. 

Over the door was a room which guarded 
the entrance. A winding stair led to the room. 
Now it was empty. They found a stair in one 
of the corner towers. Peter and Doris climbed 
to the top of the wall. There the wind was so 
strong that they could hardly stand in it. 
There was no roof to shelter them. Outside 
the wall they looked down into a prison. In¬ 
side the wall they looked far down into a 
deep well. 

Grass grew where the floor had been. Near 


— 107 — 



OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 



JUST THEN THE WIND CAUGHT PETER’S HAT 


the foot of the stairs Doris saw the well into 
which she had looked from above. An iron 
grating covered the top of the well. Peter bent 
over it, clutching the key tightly. 

But just then the wind swooped down and 
caught Peter’s hat. His hat flew through the 
air and out the tower door which he had left 
open. Peter made a dive for the hat, and in 
doing so the key slipped from his fingers. 


— 108 — 

















































YORK CASTLE 


The key fell across the grating, or the chil¬ 
dren might never have seen it again. Its 
wooden tag was already hanging down the 
well. Doris saved the key. 

Peter, who still had not found his hat, came 
back from the door to claim the key. 

By now dusk was falling. It had taken the 
children so long to find the castle that already 
the evening shadows gathered in its tower. 
Peter locked the door and followed Doris, who 
was already running down the hill. 

“There’s a wind on the tower, I fancy, the 
guide said, as Peter gave him the key. 
“Might this be your hat?” The guide took the 
hat from a peg. “It came flying over the hill 
and landed at my door. Lucky it didn’t stick 
on the head of a stone soldier high up on the 
city wall.’’ 

“Thank you very much,” Peter answered. 

As Doris also thanked the guard, she heard 
the sound of a bell ringing. 

“The curfew,” the guide said, in answer to 
the question in her eyes, William the Con¬ 
queror says it’s time for all the children in 
York to be in their beds.” 


_ 109 — 




OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


The guide, seeing that Peter was not eager 
to carry out the order, explained that when 
William first had the curfew rung there was 
real need of it. Beyond the white walls which 
Peter had climbed once lay a dark forest. 
Wolves prowled there at night. It was a place 
of terror from sunset to sunrise and William 
had the curfew rung to remind all York that 
night would be falling soon. 

“York heeded the bell,” the guide said, “but 
there was one man who did not return from 
the forest as early as the others. Even at this 
twilight hour the forest was dark because of 
its deep shade. The man lost his way. He 
could not find any of the gates through the 
wall and feared he was doomed to wander all 
night in the forest, where danger lurked be¬ 
hind every tree. Then he heard the curfew bell. 
The sound guided him to a city gate and he 
was safe. In gratitude to William the Con¬ 
queror’s curfew, the man left a sum of money 
for the bell to be rung forever and ever.” 

The bell ceased to ring. Peter heard his 
father calling from the gate. “Coming,” Peter 
and Doris both answered. 

— no — 







Carnarvon Castle 

Where the First Prince of Wales Was Bom 

As Peter and Doris looked up at Carnarvon 
Castle, the whole world seemed to be filled 
with towers. Tall slender towers rose from 
short fat ones. The children were in Wales 
on the west coast of England. Even though 
they were still in their own land, they heard 
a strange language about them. 


— m — 




















OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


In the door of a little house they saw a 
woman knitting. She wore a full skirt and 
an apron. A shawl with wide fringe hung 
over her shoulders. On her head was a black 
hat with a tall crown like a castle tower. All 
Carnarvon seemed to be castle. 

When the children reached the castle gate 
they walked between two towers and there a 
guard met them. He led Peter and Doris into 
a great hall with no roof and a carpet of grass. 
A high stone wall ran all about it. Ten big 
towers, to say nothing of little towers, formed 
part of the wall. 

The guide began to tell Peter and Doris 
about the Eagle Tower. It was named for an 
eagle carved in the stone. In this tower or in 
a room near it the first Prince of Wales had 
been born in 1284. Since that time the king’s 
oldest son has been the Prince of Wales. No 
matter in what part of England a Prince of 
Wales is born, he comes to the Castle of Car¬ 
narvon to take his title. 

While at last peace had come to Carnarvon, 
the castle’s history had been stormy. The 
first castle to stand here was built of wood. 

-H2- # 






































































































OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


It was not strong enough to withstand the 
sieges fought about it. Stone towers and walls 
were built. 

“All I have told you is true,” the guide said, 
“because it was written down by the king’s 
Remembrancer.” 

“Who was he?” Peter asked, for it seemed 
to him that a king’s Remembrancer had a title 
worth investigating. 

“He’s been several men,” the guide an¬ 
swered. “There’s still a king’s Remembrancer 
in London.” 

“What a tremendous lot of secrets he must 
know!” Peter exclaimed, “I’d like to be a 
king’s Remembrancer.” 

“You’d have to do a great deal of remem¬ 
bering,” Doris warned him. 

“Would you care to remember what it’s 
like to walk inside the walls of Carnarvon?” 
the guide asked. 

“You mean right through the walls?” Doris 
asked. 

The guide nodded and pointed to some 
steps. Then he went back to his guard room. 

Peter and Doris climbed the steps and came 


— 114 — 





C ARNARVON CASTLE 

into Eagle Tower. There were a number of 
rooms in the tower, one above the other. The 
rooms had wide fireplaces and deep windows, 
for the walls were very thick. The children 
found a door which led to the passage inside 
the walls. They followed it. 

On each side the thick walls enclosed them. 
Doris and Peter came to another tower in 
which there were thick walled rooms with 
deep windows. From these windows the chil¬ 
dren looked out on a river, for this part of the 
castle stood above the Menai Straits. Boats 
rode at anchor in the Straits through which 
the French had once sailed to attack Carnar¬ 
von. Peter sat on the wide stone of the win¬ 
dow sill, looking out on the masts. 

Then he heard a sound which caused him 
to turn back into the tower. “What was that, 
Doris? Did you hear a noise inside the wall?” 

“Yes. It sounded like crying.” 

The children listened and heard the sound 
again. It did come from somewhere deep 
within the walls. Peter and Doris started 
through another long passage trying to find 
what had made the sound. The passage was 


— 115 — 





OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


empty except for the children. They came to 
yet another tower. They climbed the steps 
through its rooms. They found a guard room 
where the castle guards long ago used to hang 
their clothes. The guard room was empty. 

There were big fireplaces in each room. 
They were so high that Peter could stand in 
them. The fireplaces were empty. But some¬ 
where in the castle the children heard the 
sound again. On through the walled passages 
they went. They climbed steps. They came 
down steps. Through a barred gate they 
looked into a dungeon. Peter called into its 
depths. There was no answer except the echo 
of his own voice. 

The passage inside the walls led on and on. 
The children came to another tower. They 
could see back into the wide open space which 
had once been the great hall. 

“The wall curves like a figure eight,” Peter 
said. “We’ve only finished the first loop.” 

They came to the Black Tower. It was 
empty. And so was the Cistern Tower with 
its deep well. There was no one in all the 
little watch towers. But still the children 


— 116 — 



CARNARVON CASTLE 


could hear the sound. On through the pas¬ 
sages they went until they came to yet another 
tower. And there they found what they had 
been seeking all through the castle walls. 

The windows in this wall were narrow slits 
at which archers had stood with their arrows 
long ago when the castle had been attacked. 
The slit in the wall widened out toward the 
inside, but was very narrow at the outer edge. 
It was like a wedge. Workmen had been here 
mending a place in the wall where the stones 
had loosened. To reach the loose stones a 
board had been propped against the window 
sill and the board sloped down to the floor. 

But it was what the children saw in the 
window which ended their search. A little 
dog was stuck between the stones which 
formed the wedge. He must have lost his way 
and run up the board to jump from the win¬ 
dow. He had stuck in the narrow slit. 

“Hold your breath,” Peter said to the dog, 
“and I’ll pull.” Peter pulled. 

The little dog gave a frightened yelp, but 
he was free. He fell into Peter’s arms and 
wriggled with joy. 


— 117 — 



OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


“I wonder how he passed the guard at the 
gate,” Peter said, putting the dog down on 
the tower floor. 

“We’ll have to show him the way out of 
the castle wall,” Doris said. 

“I’m not sure I know the way myself,” Peter 
answered. “We’ve come through so many 
towers.” 

“If we keep going we’ll have to come back 
to the Eagle Tower,” Doris said, “and it has 
steps down into the great hall.” And so they 
went back through all the towers and the long 
passages, which formed a great figure eight. 
The little dog followed at their heels. 

“Go you now, Gallelt!” the guard ordered 
in a voice which sent the dog scampering. 

The stern tone of his voice softened. 
“Caridwen could never keep track of her 
knitting ball without him.” 

When the children came into the street, they 
saw Gallelt curled against Caridwen’s full 
skirt. When she reached over to pat him her 
ball of yarn rolled into the street. The dog ran 
for the ball, caught it in his teeth, and brought 
it back with never a tangle. 


— 118 — 




HER BALL OF YARN ROLLED INTO THE STREET 




























Tintagel Castle 

And King Arthur 

As Peter and Doris rode along the high slate 
cliffs of Western England they saw a neck of 
land stretching into the sea. The waves beat 
against it. It ended in what would have been 
a small island if the neck of land had not 
joined the coast. 

So it was a peninsula which the children 


— 120 — 












TINTAGEL CASTLE 


saw. On it stood a ruined tower so old and 
beaten by the storms that it looked like part 
of the cliff itself. 

“Legend says that King Arthur of the Round 
Table was born at Tintagel Castle,” the chil¬ 
dren’s father said, as they looked toward the 
ruined tower. 

“Legend?” Peter asked, fearing King Ar¬ 
thur, who had been very real to him, might be 
robbed of some brave reality. 

“Yes,” Peter’s father admitted, “and you 
know a legend’s something that may or may 
not be true. But there must have been such 
a king who called his brave knights about him. 
At any rate, the legend lives. And here is the 
castle where it was born. The stories of King 
Arthur’s boyhood center here.” 

"I can see his face in the rock,” Doris said. 
The outline of the rocks in the cliff did look 
like a face. The children told each other that 
it must be King Arthur’s. 

When they reached Tintagel, they found 
that part of the castle stood on the mainland 
and part of it stood on the peninsula. “It must 
have been blown all about by the storms at 


—121 — 



OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 



"I CAN SEE HIS FACE IN THE ROCK.” DORIS SAID 


sea,” Doris said, for no other castle that she 
had seen was scattered in separate pieces like 
Tintagel. No other castle had so fallen to ruin, 
but Tintagel was very, very old. It had been 
here longer than the early Britons could re- 
* member. 

But in its crumbling walls still lived the 
memory of King Arthur. From its keep he 
may have watched the sea for any ships that 
threatened danger to his stronghold. The 
night he was born, so the legend goes, he was 
wrapped in cloth of gold, and brought secret¬ 
ly to the castle gate to be given into the care 
of Sir Ector, for this was the order of the 
— 122 — 















TINTAGEL CASTLE 


magician, Merlin. Later, as king, Arthur re¬ 
turned to this stormy head of land on which 
now crumble the walls within which he is said 
to have been born. 

The children’s parents left them free to 
wander about the keep. It was the castle on 
the peninsula which Peter and Doris wanted 
most to see. On a sign they read that the key 
might be had at a cottage in the valley. 

Doris and Peter found the cottage. In an¬ 
swer to their knock a woman as plump as an 
apple dumpling came to greet them. Her 
smile was warm and bright. 

“And so you’re going to the castle?” she 
asked. “May King Arthur’s blessing go with 
you. When you’ve iseen the castle if you n ll 
climb the rock, you’ll find King Arthur’s seat.” 

“Is it by his Round Table?” Doris asked. 

“Bless your pretty face, no,” the woman 
answered. “They say the top of the Round 
Table hangs in the great hall at Winchester, 
but I have never been to see it. King Arthur s 
seat rests on the rocks. From it he looked out 
to sea for any ships that might threaten his 
castle.” She took a key from the nail beside 


— 123 — 



OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


the door. “Follow the path and it will take 
you to the castle.” 

The children followed the path, which led 
out on the peninsula. They came to the castle 
and Doris unlocked the gate. The castle walls 
were in ruins, but Peter’s fancy took him back 
to Arthur’s day. He could almost see the king 
go forth to climb the rocks and dream brave 
dreams. 

It must have been from rocks like these that 
he drew the sword for his foster brother, Kay. 
Peter and Doris climbed the rocks to find the 
seat from which King Arthur looked out to 
sea. It was a hollow in the rock. Peter sat in 
it. Doris sat in it too. They felt that they had 
become part of the legend. 

And then Peter sniffed the air, for he 
smelled a delicious smell. It was not the salty 
sea breeze, but a whiff of wood smoke mixed 
with the smell of something cooking. “The 
Kitchen Knight must be somewhere about,” 
Peter said. 

He and Doris followed the smell. Nearby 
they found a rocky cove and at its edge they 
saw a man bending over the fire which he had 


— 124 — 




TINT ACEL CASTLE 


made in the shel¬ 
tered spot. He was 
cooking strips of 
bacon in a pan. 

“You must be 
the Kitchen 
Knight,” Doris 
said. 

The man looked 
up and smiled. Then he looked down again 
at his stout shoes and his worn clothes. “Do 
I look like a knight?” he asked, “I have no 
sword and I wear no armor.” 

“The Kitchen Knight did not look like a 
knight,” Doris said, “but he was brave. He 
conquered the Yellow Knight, the Green 
Knight, the Red Knight, and the Black one.” 

“But I am only the peep show man.” 

“Peep show!” Doris cried. “Where is it?” 

“Packed up back there in the cove.” 

The children looked where he pointed, and 
there they saw a two-wheeled hand cart. On 
it stood a box with wooden doors. “May we 
have a peep?” Peter asked. 

The man tossed over the key to the lock 



— 125 — 




OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


which held the doors. Inside the box the chil¬ 
dren saw a little stage with gay curtains. Un¬ 
der the stage hung a row of wooden puppets. 

“Topsy could dance in the peep show,” 
Doris said, “if I hadn’t lost her key.” 

“I have to be a puppet fixer,” the peep show 
man said, “or else I couldn’t give my show. 
You’d be surprised the wear and tear these 
puppets get. I have to mend them after every 
battle. They work by cords and not by keys, 
but I always carry odd bits of wire and metal 
in my tool box. I’ll see what I can do to start 
your friend Topsy dancing. But first, will you 
share my food with me?” 

The children were hungry after climbing 
the rocks in the brisk sea air. They were glad 
to share the bacon and bread which the man 
offered. As they sat around the fire they 
talked of the Kitchen Knight and of how he 
had asked to serve only in the king’s kitchen. 
He dressed like a serving man and no one 
knew how bold and brave he really was. The 
chief cook treated him with scorn and so at 
first did the maiden in whose cause he fought. 

“I’m going to put Gareth into my peep 


— 126 — 



TINT AGEL CASTLE 



HE FASTENED STRINGS TO HER ARMS AND LEGS 


show,” the man said. “Would you like to see 
Gareth in a peep show?” 

They were fairly bursting to see Gareth in 
a peep show. So when they had all finished 
eating, the man opened wide the little stage. 
He chose a puppet dressed in rags to play the 
knight. With bits of cloth he dressed the 
Yellow Knight and the Green Knight and the 
Red Knight. But when he came to the Black 
one, he had no puppet which was black. 


— 127 — 

























OVER THE CASTLE WALLS 


“Will Topsy do?” Doris asked. “You said 
you would try to make her dance again.” 

“So I did, but I’m not sure I can make her 
fight. I’ll try.” He fastened strings to her 
arms and legs and stood her on the stage. 

Then the show went on with the Kitchen 
Knight fighting his way past all the Knights. 

“I do believe it’s the best show on my list,” 
the man declared. “I’ll have crowds of chil¬ 
dren in every village.” 

“But what will you do without Topsy?” 
Doris asked, for she could not bear to part 
with the doll. 

“A bit of paint will remedy her loss in our 
company,” the man answered.“Now about the 
key I promised.” He looked closely at the 
key hole in Topsy’s back. He twisted a strip 
of tin to fit the end of the spring and made a 
wire handle. When he turned the key, Topsy 
danced as well as she had ever danced. 

As the children said good-bye and started 
toward the cottage to return the castle key, 
they gave the peep show man a blessing. It 
was the one the keeper had given them. 

“May King Arthur’s blessing go with you 
from Tintagel.” 

— 128 — 







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